Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Vivek Shauq, known for his comic acts in films like Koi Mil Gaya, Gadar-Ek Prem Katha, Delhi Heights and Aitraaz among others, passed away following a heart attack on Monday.

Shauq, who had also acted in several Punjabi films and shows like Flop Show, leaves behind his wife and three children. His daughters are teenagers and his son is even younger. 

Says a grieved character actor Anil Nagrath, “I am very sad and upset of the demise of Vivek who was a dear friend to me. I know him since the days of Barsaat Ki Ek Raat, in which he played a hero and I played his father. He had a different kind of an aura and was a very humorous person. May his soul rest in peace.”

The Deol family, busy promoting their latest film Yamla Pagla Deewana, was plunged into mourning when news came in of the death of Vivek who featured in several films with them.
 

MUMBAI: Disney is all set to release its 50th animation film Tangled on 21 January in India.

A 3D musical comedy, Tangled revolves around a princess who is stolen from her parents‘ castle as a baby and locked in a hidden tower longing for adventure. When a teenager, she takes off on an escapade with the help of a bandit.
 

With the secret of her royal heritage hanging in the balance and her captor in pursuit, Tangled and her cohort find adventure, heart, humour and hair.
 

MUMBAI: Hrithik Roshan will become the fifth Bollywood celebrity to have his wax figure standing at Madame Tussauds when he unveils it on Friday.

“It‘s just going to be symbolic of my journey. It‘s going to be something that will motivate me when I‘m tired. I‘ll think of this statue and it will make me keep going and giving my best. It makes me feel great and will help me fight my exhaustion,” commented Hrithik.

“I never thought in my wildest of dreams that there will be a time in my life when I‘ll be unveiling my own statue at the Madame Tussauds. I remember once I‘ve stood there in the line for three hours when I was a 12-year-old to see the museum,” he added.

Madame Tussauds already sports wax statuettes of Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Bachchan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Hrithik made his debut in 2000 with a leading role in Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai and became an overnight sensation. Later he gave hits like Dhoom 2, Koi… Mil Gaya and Krrish.
 

MUMBAI: James Cameron‘s forthcoming film, Sanctum, will have a simultaneous release in India along with its global debut.

The 3D underwater action-thriller will hit the screens on 4 February.

Directed by Alister Grierson, the film is Cameron‘s next after Avatar. The Andrew Wight written story revolves around a team of underwater cave divers on a treacherous expedition into the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on earth. It goes on to show what happens when a tropical storm forces them deep into the caverns.

In Sanctum, master diver Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) has explored the South Pacific‘s Esa-ala caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank‘s team – including 17-year-old son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) and financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd) – are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater tangle to make it out.

Shot on location off Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, Sanctum has been made with 3D photography techniques that Cameron developed for Avatar.

MUMBAI: Marathi film Taaryanche Bait (an island of stars) has been officially selected to screen in the competition section of the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF).

While the world premiere of the film was held on 10 January, the second screening is scheduled for 13 January.

Produced by Balaji Telefilm’s Alt Entertainment and Neeraj Pandey’s Friday Fireworks, the movie is expected to release in April. 

Said Balaji Telefilms joint MD and creative director Ekta Kapoor in a statement, “Balaji is known to push boundaries in content creation, be it films or television. This is a humble endeavour of Alt Entertainment to create something for the discerning and evolved Marathi speaking community that has always been an important audience for our content. I look forward to the response to our first step in this direction.”

Taaryanche Bait is the directorial debut of the Maharashtra State award winning writer Kiran Yadynopavit and stars Sachin Khedekar, Ashwini Giri, Vinay Apte, and Kishore Kadam.

MUMBAI: No One Killed Jessica opened to a tepid box office but as expected, a positive word of mouth helped the collection figures grow over the weekend, peaking on Sunday.

With an opening day figure of Rs 25 million and the Sunday fetching 50 million, No One Killed Jessica‘s opening weekend rests at Rs 125 million.

The film held its own on Sunday evening despite a T-20 match telecast between India and South Africa.

With the new week starting on Monday, the film‘s collections have started sliding down. However, Suniel Wadhwa of the 52 Weeks Entertainment Inc. avers that the film is still holding its own at the prime location multiplexes.
 
Impatient Vivek and Vikalp, the other two releases have proved to be inconsequential.

MUMBAI: Malayalam superstar Mammootty is all set to launch the sequel to his 1990 acclaimed film Mathilukal in March this year. The film would be the first under his production firm Playhouse.

Playhouse will formally enter the business of filmmaking with Mathilukalkkappuram, the sequel to Adoor Gopalakrishnan‘s film Mathilukal that won him one of his three National Awards. Besides Mammooty, the film would have Nayantara in the lead role. 

Besides, Mammooty is also upbeat about a boutique hospital in Bangalore of which he is the patron. The hospital would be inaugurated on 12 January. The hospital called ‘Motherhood‘ is owned by his son, daughter-in-law and two other NRI investors. “My role is that of a patron and we have planned this to be a chain of Motherhood boutique hospitals across the country in the near future,‘ said Mammootty in a statement.

Mammootty has acted in more than 300 films in the last three decades.

MUMBAI: Reliance MediaWorks Ltd (RMW) has launched RMW studios built as per strict Hollywood-complaint design specifications. It comprises eight sound stages spread across an area of seven acres within the Film City with a total built-up area of 200,000 sq. ft.

The studio will be the comprehensive resource for feature films, television, commercials, music videos, New Media, Gaming, special effects and special events. The studios are the first in India to have advanced technological features like super silent ‘sync sound‘, 55 feet high, enormous ‘live load‘ bearing capacities and elephant doors that allow full truck access on to the stages. The fire safety and security measures at the studios are as per Los Angeles County Fire Department regulations.

The launch of RMW Studios is a natural extension of the film and media services Commenting on the development, Reliance MediaWorks is already providing in the entertainment space.

Commenting on the development, Reliance MediaWorks CEO Anil Arjun said, “There is a severe shortage of high quality infrastructure in Mumbai and this needed gap becomes more acute every year with the constant increase in big budget films, broadcast and advertising commercial productions. These studios are a one stop solution that blends infrastructure with technology, experience and aesthetics and are prominent step in strategy to increase our footprint across the entire entertainment services value chain.”

The RMW studios have advanced technological features as per design specifications by Wylie Carter & Associates, Studio Specialist Architects from Los Angeles who have worked with Walt Disney Studios, Raleigh Studios and Dreamworks SKG‘s Playa Vista Studio.

MUMBAI: The producers of Yamla Pagla Deewana are planning to make a sequel of the film.

“Whenever a film does well, there is a sequel. This trend is fast emerging in Bollywood. It would be well for us to also bring the sequel of Yamla Pagla Deewana,” says Bollywood star Sunny Deol whose family has produced the movie. 

The Deols are aggressively promoting the film in various cities as wells as through television and other mediums.

Releasing this Friday, the Samir Karnik-directed movie will have real life father-sons (Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol) playing the same roles on the screen four years after Apne that released n 2007.

MUMBAI: Sidharth Srinivasan’s Pairon Talle will be screened in The Bright Future section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2011.

The 40th edition of the festival is scheduled to place from 26 January to 6 February.

Bright Future is the section in which the festival presents debut or second feature films that it finds ‘important, idiosyncratic and adventurous’.

The section this year will screen 18 world premi?res, 10 international premi?res and 11 European premi?res. 

In total, this year’s Bright Future is made up of 80 films selected from 38 countries. Fifteen of these films, including Pairon Talle, received support from IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund.

Pairon Talle will be presented as part of European premiere in Bright Future. Other films in the section are China’s Fortune Teller, The Old Donkey, Tape and Piano In A Factory and Soul Of Sand.

Recently, it was announced that Pairon Talle would be a part of the annual touring film exhibition organised by Museum of Modern Art.